NEIL J. LEMASTER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2014-07-30
No. 4D13-1727
CIKLIN and FORST, JJ„ concur.
162 So. 3d 56 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2014) Positive Treatment

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Neil Lemaster was convicted of selling oxycodone within 1,000 feet of a church and simple possession of oxycodone. The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed his conviction for the enhanced offense, finding insufficient evidence that the church was regularly conducting services at the time of the crime, though affirming the simple sale conviction.


Holding

The court held the evidence was insufficient to convict Lemaster of sale of oxycodone within 1,000 feet of a church because the State failed to prove that church services were being regularly conducted at the time of the November 2011 crime. The pastor's testimony established services were regular at the time of trial in 2013, not in 2011, and photographs only showed the church's physical appearance, not that services were occurring.


Headnotes

[1] To convict a defendant of selling a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a church, the State must present evidence that religious services were regularly being condu…

[2] Evidence that a church building existed and appeared the same at the time of the offense as it did at a later date is insufficient to prove that religious services were r…

Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“to convict a defendant of such offense, the State must present evidence establishing that, during the timeframe when the offense occurred, religious services were regularly being conducted”

Establishes the essential statutory requirement that proof of regular services must be tied to the time of the actual crime

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Lemaster and Wilder were jointly tried for selling oxycodone within 1,000 feet of Ryanwood Fellowship Church and possession of oxycodone. Both were co…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
STEVENSON, J.

STEVENSON, J.

Neil J. Lemaster and Paul David Wilder were jointly tried for the sale of oxycodone within 1,000 feet of a church and posses*57sion of oxycodone. Both were found guilty as charged. In this appeal, defendant Le-master challenges his convictions. While defendant raises a number of issues on appeal, we find merit in only one: his claim that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for sale of oxyco-done within 1,000 feet of a church. We write solely to address this issue.

Section 893.18(l)(e)l., Florida Statutes (2011), makes it a first degree felony to “sell ... or possess with intent to sell ... [specified controlled substances, including oxycodone] ... in, on, or within 1,000 feet of a physical place for worship at which a church or religious organization regularly conducts religious services.” Thus, to convict a defendant of such offense, the State must present evidence establishing that, during the timeframe when the offense occurred, religious services were regularly being conducted. See Moore v. State, 18 So.3d 715 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009) (holding evidence insufficient to convict defendant of possession of cocaine with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a church, where officer testified he had seen people coming and going from the church on Sundays, but officer last observed the activity nearly a year before the crime); cf. Cox v. State, 764 So.2d 711 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000) (holding the State was required to prove the site of the drug sale was a school when the offense took place and evidence that it was a school two years earlier was insufficient).

In the instant case, the State offered evidence that Ryanwood Fellowship Church was located within 1,000 feet of the drug sale at issue. The State, however, failed to offer evidence from which a jury could find that church services were being regularly conducted at the time of the November 2011 crime. At the March 2013 trial, the church pastor testified that the church has regular fellowship meetings on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The pastor was shown a photograph of the church, taken in September of 2012, and testified it was a fair and accurate depiction of how the church looks. Additionally, one of the officers who conducted surveillance at the time of the undercover drug buy, testified that, at the time of the drug sale, the church was in substantially the same condition as it was in the September 2012 photographs. None of this evidence, though, established that church services were being regularly conducted at the time of the November 2011 crime. The pastor’s testimony served to establish that services were being regularly conducted at the time of the 2013 trial, not at the time of the 2011 crimes. And, the photographs established that the church looked the same at the time of trial as it did at the time of the 2011 crime, but not that services were being conducted at the time of the 2011 crime.

In the absence of such evidence, we are compelled to reverse defendant’s conviction for sale of oxycodone within 1,000 feet of a church. On remand, the trial court is directed to enter a judgment of conviction for sale of oxycodone. See Wallace v. State, 814 So.2d 1255, 1257 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002) (finding evidence insufficient to prove sale and delivery of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a place of worship and remanding with instructions for entry of a judgment of conviction for sale and delivery of cocaine).

Affirmed in part; Reversed in part; and Remanded.

CIKLIN and FORST, JJ„ concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw